Marcellus Gladden Gorin was born in about 1836 in Louisiana, Missouri, son of Bartley William Gorin and Mary Johnson.
Marcellus attended Westminster College in Fulton, MO, and received a Doctor of Divinity degree. In 1858 he married Joanna Knott, sister of Kentucky governor James Proctor Knott in Memphis, MO.  Marcellus and Joanna had seven children: